"For fuck's sake. When I call you, you answer. How dare you block me?"

Jeong Mirae grabbed Yoonseul by the hair as she lay sprawled on the floor after being slapped. It had all happened so suddenly that Yoonseul hadn't even had a chance to defend herself.

For a moment, the lobby fell silent.

It was hard to believe a place that had been so noisy could become so quiet. It almost felt as though every sound had been erased. Then, a few moments later, the murmurs of the surrounding crowd began to reach her ears.

"Oh my goodness! You can't do this here!"

An employee from the information desk hurried over in alarm and tried to stop Mirae, but it was no use. Mirae seemed completely oblivious to everything around her.

"You ruined my entire honeymoon! Was breaking up my marriage your goal all along? Tell me the truth! Where's the ring Hong Jicheol gave you?"

What on earth was she talking about now?

Mirae's shrill voice echoed throughout the lobby.

Yoonseul let out a quiet sigh and squeezed her eyes shut.

She had returned the ring Jicheol gave her immediately, telling him it was too much for her to accept.

But anyone who overheard Mirae's accusations would probably assume Yoonseul was the other woman in an affair. People weren't interested in whether a story was true. They only cared about how scandalous it sounded.

"You've got the wrong idea. I never accepted anything like that. Let go of me. I'm warning you for the last time."

Yoonseul's voice was firm.

There's only one reason I'm holding back.

Because you're pregnant. Because I can't bring myself to throw a woman carrying a child to the floor. Unlike you, I still have that much basic human decency.

No matter how much she hated Mirae, that was the last shred of restraint Yoonseul was determined to maintain.

"And what exactly are you going to do about it?"

"Ahh!"

But Mirae showed no intention of stopping, even after Yoonseul's warning. She merely gave a nasty little smile as she watched Yoonseul struggle in pain.

Gritting her teeth, Yoonseul seized the forearm of the hand gripping her hair.

"Ow! Hey, let go of my arm! Who do you think you are, grabbing me like that?"

Mirae shrieked and wrenched Yoonseul's hand off her forearm.

She was just about to grab another fistful of Yoonseul's hair as Yoonseul staggered when—

"How about taking your hands off her before we talk?"

A deep voice, strangely familiar, reached their ears.

At the man's words from behind them, the surrounding area fell silent once again.

Mirae whipped around.

"What?"

"I said, let go of her."

"Oh, please. Who the hell are you to interfere?"

Oblivious to the atmosphere, Mirae snapped back at him, the veins standing out on her neck.

The man let out an incredulous chuckle. He laughed quietly for a moment, then drew his brows together.

"Do I really need to introduce myself here?"

He muttered the words in utter disbelief.

Then all expression vanished from his face.

"Get her out of my company's lobby. Now."

At his command, the two guards standing beside him rushed toward Yoonseul and Mirae. They immediately seized both of Mirae's arms, restraining her as she clung to Yoonseul.

"Hey! Let go of me! Hey!"

"Haaah."

Finally free, Yoonseul sighed and ran a hand through her thoroughly disheveled hair.

Why did something exhausting have to happen to her every single day?

Now she'd made a spectacle of herself in front of not only her team but practically everyone else as well.

How was she supposed to show her face at work after this?

The thought alone filled her with dread.

She was still sitting on the floor, trying to straighten her rumpled clothes, when a pair of men's dress shoes entered her field of vision.

The man crouched down in front of her.

"We've met before, haven't we?"

A picture-perfect smile spread across his lips.

Though, on second thought, it looked a little more like a smirk.

Yoonseul's face filled with bewilderment as she looked up at his striking, finely sculpted features.

"I didn't expect we'd run into each other again like this."

Seonghwan's gaze traveled slowly from her head downward, as though inspecting her appearance.

Heat rushed to Yoonseul's face beneath his openly disdainful scrutiny.

No wonder his voice had sounded familiar.

It was Ju Seonghwan, whom she'd encountered in the elevator.

"Good afternoon, sir."

Flustered, Yoonseul had been moving her lips without managing a word. Only now did she belatedly bow her head in greeting.

As she raised her head, his hand suddenly reached toward her.

Yoonseul instinctively hunched her shoulders.

Seonghwan untangled the employee ID badge that had become twisted around her neck and spoke.

"I'd like to have a word with you, but there are too many people watching here. Shall we go somewhere else?"

With that, he lightly brushed off her shoulders and stood.

Yoonseul hurriedly got to her feet and bowed her head.

"Follow me."

As she followed Seonghwan, who was already walking ahead, countless thoughts raced through her mind.

******

"Th-thank you."

Yoonseul bowed politely to the secretary who placed a cup of tea in front of her.

"Go ahead and drink. You must have had quite a fright."

"Thank you. I will."

Seonghwan, seated at the head of the table, spoke in a surprisingly kind voice.

His tone was entirely different from the one he'd used with Jeong Mirae earlier.

When Yoonseul cautiously lifted her eyes, she found herself looking at Seonghwan's long legs.

He was sitting comfortably against the sofa with his legs crossed, looking perfectly at ease.

Her gaze traveled up those long legs until it met his eyes.

Yoonseul flinched and hurriedly lowered her head again.

When Mirae had been dragging her around by the hair in the lobby, she'd never dreamed she would end up in the Vice President's office.

What on earth was happening?

Was she about to face disciplinary action for causing a disturbance?

One day it was Go Wooyoung, the next it was Ju Seonghwan.

There never seemed to be a peaceful moment anymore.

Yoonseul's expression grew troubled.

"This tea was a recent gift. It has a lovely fragrance."

Seonghwan picked up the cup in front of him as he spoke.

He certainly wasn't exaggerating. Ever since the secretary had brought in the tea, a delicate floral fragrance had filled the executive office.

"Actually, I think the fragrance suits you rather well, Ms. Na."

"……"

He seemed to be encouraging her to drink, so after a moment's hesitation, Yoonseul picked up her cup.

"Careful. You're going to drop that."

A soft chuckle reached her ears.

Was she really that nervous?

Even she could see how badly the hand holding her cup was trembling.

Oh, come on.

She tried to steady her hand, tightening her grip as she brought the cup toward her lips.

And that was when it happened.

"Ah!"

Her nerves got the better of her, and the cup slipped from her fingers.

Crash!

The cup struck her skirt before hitting the floor and shattering into pieces.

Yoonseul went deathly pale as she watched the tea spread across her skirt.

At least it wasn't hot tea.

Ice cubes scattered across the floor, and cold water trickled down her legs.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

As she scrambled to apologize, a handkerchief appeared in front of her.

"Use this."

"Thank you."

With no other choice, Yoonseul accepted it and began wiping her wet skirt.

Unfortunately, she'd chosen a light-colored skirt today, and now it was covered in blotchy stains.

Ever since the article about Wooyoung's marriage that morning, absolutely nothing had gone right.

Yoonseul let out another small sigh.

Perhaps it was simply one of those days when everything was destined to go wrong.

Her chest felt unbearably tight, as though a heavy stone were pressing down on it.

"Who was that woman?"

"...Pardon?"

Seonghwan's voice came out of nowhere.

Startled, Yoonseul turned toward him.

He was no longer wearing the frightening expression she'd seen earlier. Instead, he was watching her with unmistakable interest.

To think she'd been brought all the way up to the Vice President's office just to discuss something like this.

The situation was utterly absurd.

Yoonseul moistened her dry lips.

"The woman who was pulling your hair earlier. I'm curious what kind of relationship you two have that she'd come all the way to your workplace and make such a scene."

"Oh, well..."

"Ms. Na, did you steal someone else's boyfriend?"

The blunt question startled Yoonseul so badly that she waved her left hand, still clutching the handkerchief, frantically through the air.

"No! That's not what happened."

"So that's not it."

"...No. It wasn't me. It was Jeong Mirae—no, that's not..."

Seonghwan stared intently at her face.

She was clearly flustered, babbling incoherently.

A Junior Employee who had only recently joined the company and couldn't even bring herself to look him properly in the eye.

Her hair was still hopelessly disheveled, and her left cheek was red and swollen from the slap.

Seonghwan had stumbled upon the commotion while crossing the lobby after being dropped off at the main entrance.

He'd initially wondered what was happening when he noticed people gathering and whispering among themselves.

To think something straight out of a trashy soap opera was unfolding in his own company's lobby.

It had been ridiculous.

But the moment he'd realized that the woman at the center of the spectacle was Na Yoonseul, his interest had suddenly been piqued.

Something told him this could turn out to be quite entertaining.

From the beginning, he hadn't particularly cared what had happened to her.

After all, there was only one thing Ju Seonghwan was interested in.

Resting his chin on his hand, Seonghwan studied her intently.

One corner of his mouth slowly curved upward.

"Then what happened? What did you do to end up getting your hair pulled and your face slapped? Come on, let's hear it."

Despite his prompting, Yoonseul couldn't seem to get a word out, as though her lips had been glued shut.

Was it because Ju Seonghwan was so intimidating?

There was something peculiar about the air he gave off, something that left her staring at him in a daze.

"Um, well... You see, that woman is..."

And that was when it happened.

Bang!

A deafening crash split the air.

Yoonseul jumped in fright and whipped her head toward the sound.

Standing there was Go Wooyoung.

And he looked absolutely furious.

Chapter 22

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